As some of you may have noticed I have changed my pen name because I didn't like my old one, I just thought I should tell you guys so that you all wouldn't think that some stranger had hijacked this story from me. Anyway wow! 118 reviews! That is awesome, really. I love you all so much. Maybe if you can help me get past I don't know…maybe 125 I could give you all a prize. I would give you all an Edward Cullen but he's Stephenie Meyer's to give away, not mine. Maybe I could imagine you all up Edward's identical twin, no one mentioned who owns Edward's twin (sneaky grin)… Anyway, on with the chapter!

Chapter 21

BPOV

I stared on in wonder and shock as Elizabeth continued to weep into her knees. I wasn't sure what to do. When a person is crying, there are one of two things they would like: either they prefer to cry to themselves alone with everyone else leaving them alone or they would like someone to comfort them whilst they cry. I had no idea what Elizabeth wanted between the two. I looked towards Alice for help but she looked just as stumped as me.

But as Elizabeth's shoulders began to shake more and more violently, I rushed forward to wrap my arms around her small, hunched, quivering form and hoped that she would push me away. But she didn't push me away. Instead she leaned into my chest, resting her head on me just above my beating heart whilst her tears fell upon my t-shirt, soaking the material. Alice stood, watching for a moment before hurrying over to the floor and kneeling beside Elizabeth to wrap her arms around her too.

It felt odd to hold Elizabeth in my arms whilst she wept and yet normal at the same time too. Odd, because she was at least twenty years older than me and was sobbing in my arms as though she were a lot younger than me, and it felt normal because she didn't feel like she was older than me, she felt so small and fragile in my arms, as though if I let her go, she would instantly be at the mercy of danger. I now understood how it was possible for Edward to be able to mange looking after his mother for most of his life. She was a vulnerable creature, as vulnerable as a small girl.

Eventually, she did calm down enough to stare up at me with tear-filled eyes and say in a half-whisper:

"You said you came to talk to me about Edward?" she asked in a watery murmur.

"Yes, I did" I confirmed, perceiving that I had just heard her say Edward's name for the first time.

It was like hearing Edward's name slip from the lips of a stranger.

But this was his mother, I had to remind myself. Nothing can change that, not even her previous attitude and behaviour to her son in the courtroom. I had come here to ask her questions and try to make her recognise her son, to make her see sense and want to help Edward. It was of no use reflecting on how Edward's name sounded on her lips.

"Can you please tell me where my son is?" she requested.

How was I supposed to tell her that her son is currently in jail? How could I tell her that he was agonising over the fact that she had publicly accused him of murder? How on Earth was I supposed to tell her that her son was the hated murderer of her husband? I couldn't. Simple as that, but I had to. I had no choice.

"Edward is in jail" I said slowly.

Elizabeth looked bewildered as she stared at me and said objectionably "But what on Earth is my five year old son doing at a jail?"

She obviously hadn't grasped the fact that her son was not five years old but that he was seventeen years old and in jail as opposed to just being 'at' jail. I looked to Alice for help; I didn't have it in me to spell out the whole long, painful story to Elizabeth. Alice just stared at Elizabeth expressionlessly for a moment before saying very slowly, stretching out each syllable:

"He is not five years old anymore, Elizabeth"

"What? But I don't understand" Elizabeth almost wailed hopelessly, appearing more like a child than anything else.

"Elizabeth, Edward isn't a child anymore. He's seventeen years old" Alice informed her somewhat firmly.

"No. he's not. Edward is five years old. I'm his mother and I know that he doesn't even turn six for another year, let alone seventeen" Elizabeth argued adamantly.

God help me. It looked like we weren't only dealing with a woman who looked and acted like a child but one who was as stubborn as one. Alice sighed half in frustration and half in exasperation. I looked at Elizabeth who still had tear streaks on her flushed cheeks and dark circles under her eyes as well as a steel, determined glint in her green eyes. I could tell by that glint in her eyes that she wasn't planning on listening to us anytime soon, it was the same glint Edward got in his eyes when he was being obstinate about something.

A huge lump constricted my throat as did happen every time I thought of Edward these days. I looked around me for any sort of inspiration that would help our situation when my eyes fell upon the picture frame of three year old Edward with his radiant parents; the picture frame was lying on its face on the coffee table where I had flung it without a thought when I had rushed over to Elizabeth.

I noticed the photograph and that was when inspiration struck. I turned back to Elizabeth and enquired:

"Elizabeth, what year did you get married?"

"1989, June" Elizabeth answered promptly.

"And what year do you think it is now?" I questioned.

Elizabeth looked completely stunned for a moment and I could tell by the blank, vacant expression on her face that this question had never occurred to her at all.

I smiled slightly as I said to Alice "Alice, can you please find a calendar somewhere?"

But Elizabeth blinked and then quickly protested "No, no. It's alright. It is 1997"

"No, Elizabeth, it's not" I stated, shaking my head.

"It is 2009" Alice interjected.

"But-but, how can that be? I don't understand" Elizabeth murmured, shaking her head with a dazed look on her face.

"Elizabeth" I said as I stared evenly into her green eyes, so like Edward's in their shape and colour and yet so different in their depth and quality.

"It is 2009. If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone outside and they'll tell you it's 2009. Edward is seventeen, not five. You've been living in the past much too long" I told her gently.

"Don't you remember the past couple of weeks at all?" Alice queried, aghast.

Elizabeth merely stared at Alice blankly.

I looked at Alice. She looked back at me. We had no idea what to do. This was all pointless if Elizabeth couldn't remember anything. But we had to do something to jog Elizabeth's memory. For Edward's sake.

I looked around me again for inspiration. My eyes fell upon Alice, rummaging through her handbag for something. I threw Alice a quizzical, puzzled expression as she brought out her cell phone with a wide, triumphant grin. She merely smiled at my questioning gaze and then began fiddling with the buttons on her phone.

After about a minute, Alice thrust her phone towards Elizabeth, making Elizabeth jump quite violently in the process, and then commanded Elizabeth:

"There. Look at that picture and tell me if you recognise your son"

I looked at the image on the screen of Alice's cell phone just as Elizabeth did and immediately smiled at the memory of when the picture was taken. It was a photo of Edward and me.

The six of us had all gone to some fun fair that had come to Forks a couple of months ago. At some point of that afternoon, Emmet had bought cotton candy for himself, a lot of it. He had bought enough to last him the whole day. During one point of the course of that afternoon, he had approached one of those stalls that let you win a big stuffed animal or something, when he had failed to win Rosalie anything three times consecutively in a row, we had all laughed and Emmet having gotten annoyed at us had thrown some of his cotton candy at all of us and Edward and I not being quick enough to dodge out of the way ended up getting tufts of cotton candy stuck in our hair.

The others having found that highly amusing did not help us get the cotton candy out of our hair and so Edward and I helped each other to pull bits of the candy out of each other's hair. We had both sat down somewhere on a bench, I had my hand in Edward's bronze locks, pulling bits of cotton candy out whilst he did the same to my brown hair. Alice had then whipped her cell phone out to snap a picture of that moment as quote "you both looked so adorable". In the picture, Edward and I had both snapped our heads around to stare at the camera, our hands still in each other's hair. Edward had managed to flash one quick crooked grin at the camera whilst I had only widened my eyes in surprise.

I remember how much everyone had laughed when they saw the cotton candy in mine and Edward's hair. He had suggested we helped each other get the tufts of candy out of our hair. I remember how I had marvelled at the soft texture of Edward's bronze locks in my fingers and how grateful I had been to Emmet and his cotton candy for having provided me with the opportunity to feel Edward's hair. I recalled how my cheeks had heated up every time Edward's hand had brushed against my cheek or my back or any part of my skin when he was taking the cotton candy out of my hair. I remembered how we had kept smiling at each other every time our hand had either brushed each other's skin or grinning at each other every time we pulled out a new tuft of cotton candy. It had been a silly afternoon but also one of the most magical of my life.

I crashed back down to the present and reality when Alice grabbed the picture frame I had been staring at earlier, the one of three year old Edward with his parents. She waltzed back to where Elizabeth and I were still sitting on the floor; Elizabeth was clutching Alice's phone in her hand; her eyes fixed on Edward. Alice held the picture frame in front of Elizabeth and queried:

"Can you see the resemblance between this toddler and that grown up guy? You can almost see the years that have passed between the two photos. You can't deny it anymore, Edward is no longer five. He's grown up now. Do you believe us now when we say he's seventeen and not five?"

Elizabeth made no reply but stared silently at the two photos, her eyes darting back and forth between the two. Then, her eyes filled up with tears as she whispered "He really has grown up. My little boy who I had sung to when he had nightmares has grown up and I had never even realized or even noticed. He is seventeen, so handsome and so in love"

I started at the last part. I stared at the two photos that were in Elizabeth's hands. No, there was no doubt about it, the only possible candidate for Edward falling in love with was me and I knew how wrong that presumption was.

"No, Elizabeth, you've got it wrong. Edward is not in love with me. We are just friends, trust me" I assured her.

Elizabeth looked at me and she had never looked saner or more motherly than in that moment.

"I know what love looks like and that is what Edward looks like. But I've got so many things wrong that I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong this time too. I'm a terrible mother. What sort of mother misses the whole progression of their son's childhood and then their teen years too?" Elizabeth murmured dejectedly.

Alice smirked at me smugly as if to say "Told you so, even she thinks that Edward loves you" and I knew that she was certainly thinking something along those lines. But before I could stick my tongue out at her or do anything else she turned back to Elizabeth and informed her solemnly:

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Elizabeth. Edward and Bella are in love, everyone knows that. They're just too stupid to realize that for themselves"

But Elizabeth was no longer paying attention; she was staring at the image on Alice's phone adoringly, whilst the picture frame of the three year old Edward lay forgotten on the floor next to her. I found that I loved that picture. I just couldn't dismiss the sheer wonder that the idea of a three year old Edward excited in me. I looked back at Elizabeth who was still staring at the Edward on Alice's phone. I coughed quietly to get her attention back and she turned to look at me.

"Elizabeth, what do you remember of Edward's trial?" I asked quietly.

"What trial? Where is Edward now? I want to meet my son and apologise for being such an awful mother" Elizabeth blurted out in a fast and almost incoherent flurry of words.

"Elizabeth, please try and remember everything that has happened during the past couple of weeks" I requested beseechingly.

Elizabeth screwed up her face in concentration. Her eyes burning with the strain that this task obviously had on her. Then a couple of moments later, her expression smoothed over and she said in a rather dull, lifeless voice:

"Someone murdered John"

"Yes, but you know who that someone was and why they did it" I persevered desperately, feeling rather exhausted now with all of this effort I was exerting into Elizabeth.

Elizabeth gazed at me questioningly as she queried "How would you know that?"

"Because the culprit told me everything" I answered honestly with a pointed look at the image on Alice's phone.

She blinked a couple of times before she asked hesitantly "You're not saying that Edward is the culprit, are you?"

I responded only with "You know the truth, Elizabeth, you just need to remember it"

The room was silent with the tension and urgency of this conversation. Elizabeth then turned to look at me with haunted eyes:

"Edward couldn't have done it, could he?" Elizabeth enquired in a hushed voice.

"Whatever he done, he did only for your sake. For most of his life, his actions have been centred on your welfare. You were there that night, not me, you should know the details. You need to remember them if you want to help your son and if you love him at all, you will help him" I answered with feeling.

She looked down at Alice's phone and then picked up the picture on the floor. The one of her with her husband and her son. Her family. She stared at the photo and I could see that her eyes were darting from her husband to her son. Her eyes betrayed remembrance and pain. I could see the crash of emotion on her face as what I knew was the truth dawned on her.

She looked up at me and Alice, her eyes overflowing with tears.

"I remember everything now. I think…I think I've even got my sanity back. For that, I thank you both. Thank you for making me see sense. Thank you for bringing me back to reality. I'm sorry for how I acted at court and I know I should be apologising to Edward but right now I don't think I can face him. I will make a statement in his defence but I think right now I just need some time alone" she told us solemnly and sincerely.

Alice and I both nodded. She then placed her hand on top of my hand that rested upon my knee.

"Bella, I can see how much you love my son. He's lucky to have you and I hope you will take care of him" she told me.

I blushed but before I could say anything she smiled sadly at me before saying:

"Just wait here for a minute please. I need to be alone for a moment" she requested pleadingly.

Alice and I both nodded. She smiled that same sad smile before handing Alice back her phone and the disappearing into the kitchen. Silence engulfed the room but Alice and I made no attempt to break it. We both needed the silence to think things through. We continued to sit on the floor, making no sign of moving.

Several minutes passed before the silence was broken. The silence was broken by a sound so soft that if we had been making any noise we would not have heard it. A low moan of pain sounded from the kitchen. Alice looked up at me in alarm and I knew that she had heard it too. Without a word, we both jumped up and rushed towards the kitchen where we had heard the moan from.

We stopped at the door and I nearly passed out at what I saw.

So what do you think Bella saw? Did you like the chapter? How soon do you want the next chapter? Important questions that I need to know the answers to. So what are you waiting for? Press that button right there and get your free identical Edward's twin.